Automatically folding play yard



NOV. 22, 1949 AND 2,489,188

AUTOMATICALLY FOLDING PLAY YARD Filed July 25, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet l Q/4/ INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS.

NOV. 22, 1949 J LANDRY 2,489,188

AUTOMATICALLY FOLDING PLAY YARD Filed July 25, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 vll| 56 5 58 3 J5 INVENTOR.

ZQZZ

ATTORNEYS.

Patented Nov. 22, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Claims.

This invention relates to new and improved folding play yards and morespecifically is adapted to greater ease in folding a play yard of thisnature, incorporating means for automatically folding the same so thatit is more easily folded and carried, and is also stronger and moredurable than devices of the prior art.

The principal object of the invention resides in the provision of afolding play yard having a divided floor, each division of which isfurther sub-divided into a plurality of hinged parts which are in turnhinged to the sides of the play yard, whereby folding the floorsimultaneously folds the sides of the play yard and vice versa, andincluding means to initiate said folding action as respects the floorparts.

Further objects of the invention reside in the provision of anautomatically folding play yard comprising a pair of opposite rigidsides connected at their ends by a pair of folding sides, said foldingsides folding at a point in line with a main division line of the floor,and the floor comprising a pair of main parts having free edges in linewith the pivot points of the folding sides and each main floor partcomprising interhinged parts all of which are in turn hinged to thesides of the play yard so that the entire floor thereof is firmlysecured at all sides of the play yard for greater rigidity and stabilitythan in the prior art; the provision of a special hinge providing for asliding as well as pivotal action of certain of the floor parts relativeto the foldingsides; and the provision of manually operated means forinitiating the foldin action of the floor for greater convenience infolding theplay yard.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is aview in side elevation of the play yard showing it folded;

Fig. 2 is a view in end elevation of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view with parts broken away showing the play yardin extended condition;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged section on line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged topplan viewillustrating the hinge shown in Fig.4;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged section illustrating a modified form of foldingdevice;

Fig. 7 is a top plan viewof the play yard showing it as it appears whenthe-folding action has just been initiated; and

Fig. 8 is an end View with parts broken away showing the play yard as itappears when it 2 is midway between folded and extended condition.

The present play yard comprises a pair of opposite rigid sides it! and92 which are ordinarily made with upstanding bars i4, although thesesides may be made solid or in any way desired or convenient.

The sides it and i2 are interconnected at their ends by a pair offolding sides [6 and i8, these sides being similar to the sides it andi2 except that they are separated into two sections at points 29 so thatthey fold inwardly as controlled by hinges 22. As so far described, theplay yard is largely conventional and almost all play yards areconstructed as recited above.

The present improvement includes a novel floor comprising a pair of mainfioor elements Hand 25 which are pivoted by means of hinges .28 and 38,to their respective rigid sides Ill and 12. The main floor elements 24and 26 are generally triangular in form, having their apices pointingtoward each other and their broad bases adjacent and along the sides It)and I2 substantially co-extensive in length therewith. As will be seenin Fig. 3, the apices of the triangles are cut off and it is to be notedthat there is no particular connection between the main floor parts 24and 26 except for a supporting block '32 secured to the floor part 24and underlying the floor part 26 at the respective free edges thereof.The block 32 is curved at its free end as at 34 and as will appearhereinafter, when the floor part .24 is raised about hinges 30 this willinitiate similar pivoting action as to the floor part 25; and .also whenthe floor parts 24 and 28 pivotdown toward each other the free edge ofthe part 26 will fall on the curved surface 34 and thus be guided intocorrect supported condition as illustrated in Fig. 6.

Each of the main floor elements 24 and 26 is provided with a pair oftriangular wing parts respectively indicated at 36, 38, 40, and 42, eachof these latter parts being hinged to the inclined edges of the mainelements 24 and 26 by underlying hinges 44.

Each of the wing parts 36, 38, 4t], and 42 is pivotally connected by aspecial hinge generally indicated at 46 to an adjacent and respectivelyfolding section of the folding sides l5 and i8. These special hinges areeach provided with a slot appearing at 48 through which extends a pin 50secured in the folding sides and it will thus be seen that each floorwing part 36, 38, 40, and 42 is both pivotally and slidably secured toits respective folding side section.

Thus it will be seen that each of the wing parts of the floor is securedto a side of the play yard and that, therefore, all of the sides of thefloor are rigidly connected so that they cannot sag below the bottomrails of the sides. The block 32 supports the entire floor in the centerand it is contemplated that a caster or other support will be secured tothe block 32 to hold the same with the floor elements all level and alsothat casters may be used on the corner posts 52 of the play yard ifdesired.

Also, it will be seen that if the main floor part 24 be raised about theaxis of hinges 30, the wings 40 and 42 pivotally connected thereto willbe raised about the hinged edges adjacent the main part 24 and in sodoing the folding side sections l6 and 3 will be drawn inwardly, all asclearly illustrated in Fig. 7 At the same time, the block 32 willinitiate simultaneously the same raising action as to the main floorpart 26 and the same action will take place with regard to the wings 36and 38 so that as soon as a slight upward motion is applied to floorpart 24, the entire device will start to fold, see Fig. 7, whereupon itis merely necessary to continue to press inwardly on the folding sidesIt and I8 to completely fold the device into the positions show in Figs.1 and 2.

Conversely, in order to unfold the device it is merely necessary toseparate the sides In and I2, whereupon the floor parts will extenddownwardly and outwardly and the folding sides I6 and I8 will moveoutwardly to the position of Fig. 3, it being impossible to catch any ofthe floor parts in the rails l4 as commonly happens with play yards ofthe prior art, so that the entire folding and extending actions of thepresent play yard are extremely smooth and easily accomplished.

In order to initiate the folding action there is provided a lever 54which may be secured in any desired manner to the under side of the mainfloor part 24. This lever extends at an angle under the floor to a point56 outwardly of the play yard and at this point it has an angled end 58which may be operated to start the floor part 24 outwardly. For extraconvenience the part 58 is provided with a link 60 which in turn isprovided with a handle 62 so that the folding action may be initiatedand completed without stooping or bending.

As an alternative form, a foot lever 64 secured to part 24 may be used,it being necessary merely to step down on the free end of lever 64 inorder to initiate the raising action of the part 24, since the latter ispivoted to the frame by hinges 30.

It will be seen that this invention provides an automatically foldingplay yard which is extremely smooth in operation and which, at the sametime, provides for a stronger and more rigid construction due to thehinge constructions at all four sides of the floor to the sides of theplay yard.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do notwish to be limited to the details herein disclosed otherwise than as setforth in the claims, but what I claim is:

1. A folding play yard comprising a divided floor, each part of thedivided floor being subdivided into a plurality of elements the adjacentedges of said elements being hingedly joined, a bottom rail at each sideand end of the play yard, hinges on said rails, each sub-divided elementbeing hinged to a rail thereby, the side rails being hingedly joined tothe end rails and being foldable at points intermediate their endsadjacent the main division of said floor, the elements folding about therail hinges and drawing the foldable side rails inwardly.

2. The play yard of claim 1 including means to initiate the foldingmotion of the elements.

3. The play yard of claim 2 wherein said means comprises a lever securedto one element, and including a foot on said one element normallyunderlying one of the other divided floor parts so that the single leverwill start all the parts in the folding motion thereof.

4. The play yard of claim 1 wherein the hinges between the foldable siderails and the adjacent sub-divided element are effective to provide forsliding movement of the corresponding element on the rail.

5. A folding play yard comprising a pair of opposite ends and a pair ofconnecting folding sides pivoted between the ends, a floor elementpivoted to each opposite end, an element at each side of each floorelement and hinged thereto at adjacent edges, the second named elementsbeing hinged to the respective parts of the folding sides so that thelatter and the elements are simultaneously foldable one by movement ofthe other.

6. The play yard of claim 5 including means providing for the secondnamed elements to slide along the folding sides.

'7. The play yard of claim 6 wherein the elements are generallytriangular in shape and constructed and connected to effect a pair ofarticulated rectangles.

8. A folding play yard comprising a pair of opposite ends, a pair offolding sides pivoted to and connecting the opposite ends, and a pair ofseparate folding floor elements, each of the floor elements comprising amain part pivotally connected to an opposite end and a pair of wingparts pivotally connected along an adjacent edge to its main part andalong another edge to a section of the folding sides, whereby the flooras a whole is supported by the four sides of. the play yard and thefolding sides are folded by folding motion of the floor elements andvice versa.

9. The play yard of claim 8 including a hinge between each floor wingpart and the corresponding section of the folding sides and meanseffective to" provide a sliding motion of each hinge in a directionalong the sides.

10. The play yard of claim 9 including a block secured to the free edgeof one main floor element part and underlying the other main floorelement part at the free edge of the latter to support the same andinitiate folding thereof, and means to initiate folding motion of themain floor element part to which the block is connected.

HENRY J. LANDRY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 545,243 Miller Aug. 27, 18951,202,253 Vitt Oct. 24, 1916 2,224,310 Merrett Dec. 10, 1940

